Environmental news from California and beyond

BLM approves Brightsource's Ivanpah solar project

October 7, 2010 | 3:27
pm

And we’re off to the races: Brightsource Energy Inc. of Oakland was cleared by federal regulators Thursday to begin construction on its desert solar power installation, joining two other solar plants approved this week.

Which means that Brightsource, which got the go-ahead from the federal Bureau of Land Management two weeks after the California Energy Commission gave the OK, may be the first major solar developer to break ground on a utility-scale solar project in California.

State and federal regulatory agencies have been busy since August, sweeping through several massive renewable energy proposals while speeding up the permitting process. Developers are hoping to break ground by the end of the year so they can take advantage of stimulus funds that could take care of up to 30% of project costs.

The 370-megawatt Ivanpah installation will include three plants, which will use 173,500 mirrors to focus solar energy on central “power towers.” Steam created inside will drive turbines to produce enough electricity to power up to 277,500 homes, the federal agency said.

Utilities have already signed contracts to buy the power from the San Bernardino County plant. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will get about two-thirds, and Southern California Edison will get the rest.

Construction is expected to wrap up by the end of 2013 and will nearly double the amount of solar thermal electricity currently being produced in the country, officials said. The Ivanpah effort will create $300 million in local and state tax revenue, they said.

Even President Obama touted the planned facility in his weekly address Saturday, saying that it was the “largest such plant in the world. Not in China, not in India, but in California.”

“With projects like this one, and others across this country, we are staking our claim to continued leadership in the new global economy,” he said.

The company has also tried to placate concerned environmentalists, who complain that construction and operation of the plant will harm native species and a delicate ecosystem.

The 3,500-acre site was scaled down from a larger proposed area, and the number of mirrors was cut back. Instead of using land grading and traditional concrete mounting pads, the mirrors will be attached to poles that take up less space.